Introduction by Barbara K. Mistick

Dear Colleagues,

Like many of you, we have been watching the Supreme Court closely anticipating its decisions on race-conscious admissions and President Biden’s student debt forgiveness proposal. 

Yesterday, in a 6-3 decision divided along ideological lines, the court ended affirmative action in college admissions, striking down the programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Although the ruling does not impose an outright ban on race-conscious admissions at colleges and universities, the constitutional test it establishes, particularly its focus on a lack of a meaningful end point, will effectively end such programs, while leaving the door open for institutions of higher education to consider an applicant’s lived experiences, including those referencing race.

As I said in my statement yesterday, while this decision establishes a new framework for the future of higher education admissions that will have wide-ranging implications, I am certain that diversity in backgrounds, perspectives, demographics, religions, life experiences, and more will remain core educational values for private, nonprofit higher education. We must continue to explore alternative solutions and find common ground to address the underlying issues of inequality and discrimination that persist in our society.

NAICU is in conversations with the White House, the Department of Education, leaders in Congress as policy makers in Washington begin their work in determining the impact the ruling will have on colleges and universities and their students. 

To help unpack the decision and its implications, NAICU is hosting a webinar (register here) from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on July 14 with Art Coleman, managing partner and co-founder of EducationCounsel LLC. Coleman is one of the foremost national experts on this issue.

It is expected that the court will rule on student debt later today. When it does rule, we will post our statement to our website and social media channels tomorrow. We will provide more detail and analysis on both cases soon. 

Soundbites

• UPDATE: It was brought to our attention that there were technical issues with the link we provided last week to NAICU’s comment letter to the Department of Education regarding the agency’s regulatory proposal package. The link has been fixed and updated above.
• This spring, a Technical Review Panel (TRP) convened to advise on developing a working group with the aim of enhancing the quality, comparability, and usefulness of the IPEDS Financial Survey data. The Department of Education is accepting comments on the panel’s proposal for the working group. Comments are due by July 13, 2023. NAICU is working to submit comments in conjunction with the higher education community.

Today’s Washington Update reports on a congressional hearing that focused on skills-based hiring and a proposal introduced by House Republicans to simplify loan repayments.

For more information, please contact:
Barbara K. Mistick